Heartbreak Café

by A. R. Perry

  ME: Save me?

  BRADEN: Only if u save me from this makeup homework.

  Homework sounds way more fun than an afternoon off with my mom. I lean against the closed bathroom door and crank on the tap water so it sounds like I’m doing more than hiding.

  I skipped the run with her, instead pretending to sleep in. My plan was to sneak out when she was gone but evidently she runs faster when I’m not with her. She spotted me on the front porch so I had to duck back inside and now here I stand. I was lucky to avoid her all yesterday but I don’t think it’s in my cards today.

  My phone dings in my hand and I jump, fumbling with it so I can silence it before my mom hears. I feel as if I’m in some scary movie hiding from the big bad.

  BRADEN: B redy in 5

  My heart jumps into my throat. I don’t care what his plans are as long as they don’t involve me being home. But that also means I have to find a way to sneak out past my mom. Why, oh why didn’t he text me this earlier?

  I press my ear to the door, listening for any movement. She’s tenacious when she wants something. No doubt she’s waiting around a corner to jump out and scream got you!

  When I take a tentative step out into the hallway, I’m met with silence. Suspicious silence. I peek into the living room, mentally screaming at myself for tempting fate. She’s not there. Her door is closed. The kitchen lights are off. Maybe she gave up. Or…

  I glare at my bedroom door. She wouldn’t. Sunlight steams out into the hall from the seam at the bottom of the door. Yeah, she would. I guess Braden will have to deal with messy- just-rolled-out-of-bed-no-makeup me today.

  Tiptoeing to the front door, I check the time. If he’s true to his word and is on time, I should be able to make a running leap into his car while it’s still moving and avoid my mom. I grab my purse and slip into my tennis shoes. The rumbling sound of a car drifts closer to the house signaling that it’s time to run or be trapped.

  I slip out the door, shutting it as quietly as possible right as Braden pulls up. Not wanting to risk getting caught, I run to the passenger side causing him to give me a weird look as he’s halfway around the front of the car.

  “Go. Go. Go.” I wave him off and open the door myself. I’m buckled and slouched low in the seat before he’s climbed back inside.

  “Why do you look like you’re running from the police?”

  “Worse. Mom. Go.” His laugh fills the cabin as the engine turns over.

  My phone chimes with a new text as he pulls away from the curb. I’m too scared to check. It’s my mom. I know it.

  “Why is your mom glaring at my car?”

  “She’s on a mission to mother-daughter me to death and I wasn’t up for it today.”

  “Ahh.”

  Once he’s pulled out of our subdivision, I sit up straight, brushing my wild curls away from my face. “You’re a lifesaver.”

  His hand finds mine. “What I’m hearing is that you’ll help me with my homework for the foreseeable future.”

  “If my mom doesn’t ground me until I graduate, sure.”

  His smile is easy and there is a lightness about him that hasn’t been there since before his mom had the stroke. I’m about to ask how she’s doing, but he beats me to it. “Did you just get back from the gym?”

  I glance at my lazy day clothes and cringe. Kinda hoped he wouldn’t notice. “Nope. This is my day off, no date planned look. Like it?”

  His grin is mischievous as he stops at a red light. “I love it.” He leans in for a quick hello kiss. The one we missed when I made a mad dash past him. “But the question is, should I let the world see it or take you back to my place?”

  Butterflies explode in my stomach and I have to look away. “Your house is the first place my mom will look.”

  “Hmm. Where can I hide you then?” His fingers tap the steering wheel to the beat of the song. “I know where.” He shifts into the left lane and hops on the freeway.

  I don’t question him. Wherever he’s taking me, I know I’ll have fun. As long as he’s with me. And yes, I hate myself for thinking that, but self-loathing aside, it’s true. I love hanging out with him.

  A few minutes later he pulls unto the crowded mall parking lot. “The mall?” I silence my phone and toss it into my purse.

  “You don’t seem like the mall type. Last place your mom will look.”

  He props open my door and offers me his hand. Together we walk into the main entrance and I’m only mildly alarmed at how I’m dressed. I find a clip in my bag and pull back most of my hair into a purposefully messy look. At least now I pass for loungy and not lazy.

  “Where to first?” Braden claims my hand again now that I’m not fussing with my hair.

  “Umm…” My eyes sweep over the stores in front of us. Most of them are clothing that I have no interest in, let alone money for. “Dealer’s choice?”

  Braden laughs and drags me farther into the crowd. He was right, I’m not really a mall girl. I can count on my fingers and toes the amount of times I’ve been inside one. Who needs malls when there is the internet and two-day shipping?

  We pass by a bunch of stores including a sports place I was positive he would stop in. Instead, he leads me to the far end to a bookstore.

  “This is where you want to spend your Sunday?” I ask as he tugs on my arm, his energy radiating excitement.

  “Okay.” He stops in the middle of an isle filled with cookbooks.

  When he pulls out his phone my eyebrows scrunch in confusion. Did he bring me here to just surf his phone?

  After a few taps on the screen his eyes meet mine, sparkling under the hard overhead lights. “I set my timer for ten minutes. That’s how long we have to find your favorite book from your childhood and your favorite book today. We meet back here.” He holds out his hand in the space between us. “Phone.”

  I hand it over. A couple taps later he hands it back. “Ready?” His finger hovers over the green start button so I follow suit and do the same. “Set. Go!”

  We both rush to push the button and break off in different directions. A few customers shoot me startled, bordering on irritated, looks as I blast past them headed for the nonfiction section. Braden went straight for the kids’ books and I want mine to be a surprise. Plus, the children’s section is way easier to navigate.

  Excited energy burst through my veins almost like the moment when you reach the top of a roller coaster. It’s a sudden adrenaline rush and I’m not sure if it’s because I’m rushed to find the two books I need or if it’s because for once in my life I have someone to just be around. Sure, I have Zari, but she has her life, her friends. Besides his parents and a certain someone who shall not be mentioned, he doesn’t seem to have anyone else.

  In a weird almost sad way that’s comforting. As if we’re meant for each other. Although I have a feeling he’s doing this just for me. His dyslexia makes reading hard, and he’s mentioned he hated it as a kid.

  I brush past a lady in an oversize leather coat and find the section I’m looking for. Now I only have to cross my fingers that the store has it in stock. Not that it’s a super popular title now, but that also means they order fewer copies.

  My fingers glide across the spines as I skim the titles. A triumphant shout jumps out of me when I find what I’m looking for. A few more people turn in my direction giving me weird looks, but I shuffle past them on the way to the children’s section. The timer just ticked into four minutes so I have to hurry.

  Braden is nowhere to be found as I attempt to calm myself. Don’t want to scare poor innocent children. They’re scattered around the area, playing with toys and paying no attention to me. I find the book I’m looking for with ease and bolt toward the meeting spot.

  I’m the first one there. He has a minute and a half so I lean against the bookshelf and study the titles of the cooking books. No need to look like an even bigger weirdo.

  Right as the timer rings on my phone, Braden rounds the corner and almost slams into me
. His free hand shoots out to steady me and I can’t help but giggle. He’s panting and his cheeks are tinged a light pink.

  “Right at the buzzer.”

  “I don’t know…” I twist my mouth to the side, pretending to think. “Pretty sure you ran a little over.”

  “No way!”

  “Yup. What’s the penalty for that, anyway?”

  His eyes narrow, but it doesn’t match the smile on his face. “Come on.” He snags my hand and leads me to the front of the store and into the attached café. “Loser buys coffee and since I might have barely made it after the timer, I get to treat you to whatever you want.”

  I give him my order—a normal, by the books coffee since this is a mainstream coffee joint—and find us a table by the window.

  My phone vibrates a few times as Braden waits for our order. Knowing exactly who it is, I toss my purse on the ground and nudge it under the table so I won’t be tempted. No more distractions for the rest of the afternoon. I’m already in deep shit when I get home so I might as well enjoy my freedom while it lasts.

  Braden sets a cup in front of me and leans over the chair to plant a kiss below my ear. Shivers run down my spine making me tingly all over.

  A girl could get used to this.

  “So.” He sets his cup down and tucks his books under the table on his lap. “Let’s see what you picked.”

  I want to argue that he should go first since this was his idea, but I’m also too excited to share with him. So instead, I take a drawn-out sip of my coffee and try not to laugh when his face shifts from happy to irritated. Come on, he had to know what he was getting himself into here.

  “Should we start with the children’s books?” I ask before he gets annoyed for real.

  “I like that. We’ll trade off. Let’s see your pick.”

  I drop the book in the center of the table. Charlotte’s Web. A book I had to have read at least one hundred times when I was a kid.

  “My mom bought this for my seventh birthday. I read it so many times the spine gave out.” My finger traces the titles, remembering how my mom would snuggle up in bed with me on the nights she made it home before my bedtime and listen to me read.

  “Rough subject for such a young kid.”

  I shrug. “I was grown long before my time. I’m basically a thirty-year-old in a seventeen-year-old’s body now.”

  “I totally see that.” Braden takes a sip of his drink and then drops his choice on top of mine.

  I giggle and snatch up the book. “Where the Wild Things Are. God, I remember my mom reading this to me.”

  “Mine too.” His smile dips a little, but he hides it with another drink.

  “How’s your mom doing?”

  “Better. The doctors are hopeful that there won’t be any more lasting damage.”

  “And your dad? Did he bar you from the hospital?”

  Braden shifts his attention outside. “No. He just doesn’t want me missing any more school or staying the night there. I’ve been going after school and I’ll go later today.”

  “I’m sure she loves that.”

  He sucks his bottom lip between his teeth. “She probably wouldn’t notice the difference.”

  “Of course she would!” I wrap my fingers around his wrist and tug it until he leans forward and shifts his attention to me. “The accident may have taken some things from her, but there’s no way it took her love for you. She’s your mom.”

  “It doesn’t feel that way sometimes. She doesn’t even remember my name.”

  “But you don’t forget love. Love is a feeling not a memory. Even if she can’t remember your name, her love for you is burned into her heart.”

  His eyes glisten and he blinks rapidly trying to clear them. “You’re right. You are like thirty.”

  I give him a playful slap then toss my second book choice on his hopping to lighten the mood.

  He twists the cover his direction so he can read the title. “The Outsiders?”

  “All-time favorite.”

  “Wasn’t this a movie?”

  “Based on a book. A groundbreaking book for the young adult genre.”

  Brande’s eyebrows shoot up, but he says nothing.

  “Come on. Drinking. Smoking. Fights. Deaths. And all by teenage characters. That wasn’t common at the time. Plus, it’s an amazing story overall.”

  “I think I saw part of the movie once on TV.”

  “The movie is nowhere near as good.”

  “My brain prefers movies.”

  I roll my eyes. “Fine. You win, but only because your brain and reading have a hard time getting along.”

  “Which is exactly why my next choice was the audio book version.” He sets the final book in our literary get-to-know-you on top of the stack.

  I immediately recognize it. “A Clockwork Orange? I didn’t know you had that kind of darkness in you.”

  His out of nowhere maniacal laugh turns a few heads in our direction. I slip down in the chair, ducking my face into my sweatshirt at the sharp look an older lady gives him. He doesn’t seem to notice. Instead, he polishes off his coffee and stands.

  “Come on, Ponyboy.”

  A smile lights up my face as I chase him out the front doors. “You did watch the whole thing didn’t you?”

  “Maybe.”

  “The book is still better. I bet they have it on audiobook.” That’s when a thought occurs to me. One that should have come a lot sooner than this very moment. “Wait.” I stop, jerking him to a stop with me. “Why don’t you get our English books all on audio? I can still make you quick reference flash cards, but then you don’t have to suffer through trying to read them.”

  “Huh.” He runs a hand through his hair, knocking a few strands loose from his perfectly combed do. “Why didn’t I ever think of that?”

  “Because I’m the smarter one.” His dirty look only makes me smile more. “You’ll admit it one of these days.”

  “DiMarco!” A voice calls from somewhere inside the hustle and bustle of customers flooding the walkway.

  Both of us turn toward the voice. I know who it is before I’ve even seen a face. Of course he would be here to ruin our fun. I try to drop Braden’s hand, but he holds on tighter.

  Jesse maneuvers out of the crowd and joins us by the directory. “What’s up, man?” He holds out a fist to which Braden reciprocates with a quick fist bump. “What are you doing here? I thought you said you had homework.” Jesse’s attention flits to me for the briefest of seconds.

  “Got done early.”

  “Cool. Cool.” Jesse’s gaze drops to our linked fingers and his whole demeanor changes. His jaw clenches. Nostrils flair. Posture hardens.

  If I didn’t know any better, I would think us holding hands pissed him off. Which makes no sense since Jesse hates me. A point he has made clear on hundreds of occasions.

  “We should—”

  Jesse cuts off whatever Braden was about to say with a wave of his hand. “Wait. Don’t tell me you’re slumming it with Stella. I thought you were bigger than…well…her.”

  “Dude.”

  “Seriously? If you wanted to humiliate Michelle, I’m sure there are better ways to do it.”

  “This has nothing to do with Michelle.” Braden’s grip on my hand tightens as he takes a step forward. “And I don’t appreciate you talking about my girlfriend that way.”

  I freeze at the same moment Braden does. Did he just call me his girlfriend? We’ve never once named the puppy so to speak. Not a conversation I want to have in a crowded mall in front of my ex.

  “Girlfriend?” Yeah. Jesse caught that too. “Did you fall and bump your head or something? You dump Michelle, then you’re MIA from school. You haven’t been to a single party this year and now…this.” Jesse thrusts a finger at me, his face warping with disgust.

  God, I want to punch him in the throat. I’d also like to remind him that he dated me for almost a year and that I know he slept with a nightlight until he was fifteen.
>
  Too bad that’s another conversation Braden and I haven’t had.

  “Back off, Jesse.” Braden’s voice is full of so much venom even I stop and stare, feeling a mixture of anxiety and…pride, maybe. Never have I heard him speak like this.

  “Wow.” Jesse takes a step back, thrusting his hands into his pockets. “What happened to bros before hoes? And let me tell you, Stella is most definitely—”

  “Shut up!” I shout. A group of girls turn our way, giggling. Perfect. I’ve always wanted to be a part of a big scene in the middle of the mall. “Let’s go.” I nudge Braden’s arm.

  Jesse shakes. “You’re going to pick this bitch? That’s fine. Don’t come running to me when you find out the truth.”

  Braden’s face crumples into confusion. I link my arm through his and tug him toward the exit. To my surprise he follows, but not before shooting another glance over his shoulder at Jesse who is just standing there watching us leave.

  “What was that about?” Braden asks once we step off the curb.

  “He’s your friend. You tell me.” Come clean. Come clean. Come clean.

  “I’ve never seen him act like that.”

  Obviously, you don’t know him that well. “Maybe he’s just having a bad day.”

  “No. He’s made more than one comment about me hanging out with you. But that was just…” Braden scratches his head, stopping in front of his car.

  Truth time. “Listen. I, uh—”

  The sound of Braden’s phone cuts me off. Apparently, the universe doesn’t want me to tell him about Jesse.

  Nope. That’s all me. After years I’ve finally opened up. I can’t let it all fall apart now.

  “One sec.” He opens the passenger side door for me as he answers. Once the door shuts, I can’t hear what he’s saying, but his giant smile at least tells me it’s not Jesse.

  “That was my dad,” he says as he climbs in. “My mom spoke for the first time since the stroke. I hate to ditch you early, but—”

  “Go! That’s amazing. I’m so glad she’s doing better.” I plant a kiss on his cheek even though my gut is twisting in nauseating circles.

  Braden pulls out of the parking lot, his energy so much lighter than it was moments before the call. “Yeah. They think she might be home before Thanksgiving.”